The way that the Vietnam War is now remembered as the helicopter war, the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan may be remembered for the use of unpiloted aerial surveillance (UAV) craft or drones. Drones may facilitate remote intelligence gathering, alleviating the need for foot soldiers to enter into hostile areas “blind,” with little or no information about the location and strength of hostile forces. Drones may provide close combat support, such as identifying and eliminating targets of interest, alleviating the need to expose soldiers and/or airmen to potential small arms fire, mortars, rocket grenades, road-side bombs, anti-aircraft weaponry, missiles, and other dangers.
Although many presently used drones are roughly the same scale size as piloted aircraft, such aircraft are both relatively expensive and may be detected due to their size. Recently, smaller drones have been developed that may be deployed in greater numbers and are relatively less expensive resulting in greater use by individual units in the field. Smaller drones have certain tradeoffs as they cannot carry the amount of payload of a larger drone. Further, power for such smaller drones is limited due to the size of the aircraft and therefore operating periods are also limited.
Unpiloted drone aircraft typically mount a camera in a ball turret assembly which allows movement in three dimensions to allow the camera to track objects on the ground without altering the flight path of the aircraft. Data such as image data may be captured via a sensor such as a camera and transmitted back to a controller.
Because sensitive cameras and other equipment such as precise motors and gimbal systems are sensitive to weather, and must be kept from the elements, this equipment is generally enclosed in a casing or shell. Traditionally, turret shells have been made of glass or plastic. See, e.g., U.S. Patent App. No. 2009/0216394 A1(published Aug. 27, 2009). Polymer and glass shells have the disadvantage that they may allow electromagnetic radiation to enter the turret and interfere with the sensitive camera equipment. Polymers and glasses are also generally thermal insulators, so that heat may build up inside the turret, compromising the equipment. Solid metallic turret shells are possible, but are heavy and not ideal for aerial reconnaissance craft.
Thus, it would be desirable to have a ball turret that is both lightweight and waterproof, but also contains shielding from electromagnetic radiation, and comprises a heat sink to remove heat that builds up in the turret.